“Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Ministry Update”
A Christmas To Remember*
Ecuador sits on the symbolic line that divides the Earth in half with twelve-hour periods of daylight and darkness.
After Christmas 2012, I took my oldest grandchild CJ (age twelve), to Ecuador for her first shoebox distribution. Traveling with us was Michael W. Smith, his wife Debbie, and her mother Ann, and Patti (Michael & Debbie’s daughter-in-law).
We had just celebrated Christmas in our homes so it was a special treat to celebrate Christmas all over again with the beautiful children of this South American nation.
The Smith’s jumped right into the fun helping children open their boxes and showing them the love of the One the Christmas season celebrates.
CJ is very much like my son Will; she made friends easily and was excited to watch the children gasp with surprise, giggle with delight, and grab hold of their precious gift boxes. She sat with some of the children as they combed through the presents, sometimes showing them how to use certain things.
Then a little girl pulled out a picture of a family and showed it to CJ. Her mouthed dropped open. It was a picture of the family who had packed the box-a family that CJ knew well.
This has happened on occasion with various team members who travel with OCC, and it is always a fun moment, but it is also evidence that God guides. What other explanation could be made that this one box, out of nine million collected for that year, would have come from people CJ knew? It thrilled me that she was able to see God work; for my granddaughter, it made her first distribution a Christmas to remember.
A Story of Simple Gifts by Franklin Graham & Donna Lee Toney – copyright 2013
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